Torres: Hard to believe there was news beyond the pandemic and the election

John A. Torres
Florida Today

Thank God it's over.

The year, the start and promise of another decade, the fun slogans, the symmetrical numbers: 2020. See ya' and good riddance. From this point forward it shall be known as the year that shall not be named.

I'm not sure 2021 will be any better but we can at least hope. This is the time of year when I sit in front of my laptop and using the input and contributions of my co-workers, come up with the top stories of the year.

It's normally a column with some sadness, some nostalgia, some irreverence, some genuine joy and usually a bit of hope for the things to come.

Let me know when you stop laughing.

Personal tragedies aside, have we lived through a worse year?

From a worldwide pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans, to violent protests and rioting in response to George Floyd's horrific death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, to nightly images on the television of cities on fire, to a contentious, nasty presidential election that illustrated just how divided this country is. Don't believe me? Go on your Facebook page and state your allegiance for your party of choice.

Naturally the biggest story of the year was Coronavirus or COVID-19. 

(Left to right) Nurses Deidra Gansel, Gena Gillespie, Mary Beth Atkinson and Kara Ehrhardt confer at Morton Hospital in southeastern Massachusetts, a COVID-19 hot spot.

Before the world as we knew it changed forever, I'll long remember a conversation with a co-worker in the newsroom. I expressed concern because China had just shut down two towns/cities. No one in and no one out. I had never seen that happen before. The co-worker assured me it wouldn't come here.

Two months later everything had changed. We were working from home, scavenging for toilet paper, hand sanitizer and frozen pizza when we dared venture outside. We no longer shook hands with friends or greeted anyone with a hug. 

At first it seemed novel. 

We tried new recipes, we played board games, we rewatched the entire Harry Potter movie series, ate a ton of rice pudding and then settled into a massive funk as the days of the week lost significance and every day became an eerily similar version of yesterday, or just Blursday.

The Space Coast suffered close to 20,000 Covid-19 cases and nearly 500 deaths in the year that shall not be named. 

On April 7, Brevard County and Florida Department of Health officials announced the deaths of a 79-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman due to the virus. They were our first in Brevard.

Businesses, schools and courthouses were locked down causing just about everyone to adjust their lives. Numerous businesses suffered and shut down. Proms, graduations and other celebrations were put on hold or held virtually as the world learned how to navigate its way through online workplace meetings, birthday parties or sing-alongs.

Brevard beaches suffered heavy erosion from winds and high seas from Hurricane Teddy.  Dune damage at Surf Drive.

On the bright side we were spared any summer storms of significance, although I take full credit for that one because I actually bought hurricane shutters this year. 

As many of us cowered, capitulated and coped, cautiously counting the remaining days in the year, other newsworthy things did happen on the Space Coast. And some of them were even good.

So, in no particular order, here are some of the top stories from Brevard County that occurred during the year that shall not be named. I also threw in a couple of feel-good stories for the heck of it. I figured it couldn't hurt our mojo.

Here's hoping 2021 brings us better times.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule are seen after going vertical at Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A on Thursday, May 21, 2020. The rocket will launch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

Human Space Flight returns to KSC

After nearly a decade without domestic human spaceflight, SpaceX and NASA broke the hiatus with the launch of two astronauts from Kennedy Space Center on May 30.

The test mission known as Demo-2 flew Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley from pad 39A in a Cargo Dragon capsule, then safely delivered them to the International Space Station for a two-and-a-half month stay. From liftoff through the autonomous docking sequence, everything went as planned.

Demo-2 bridged a nine-year gap in human spaceflight left behind by the space shuttle’s last mission in July 2011.

The launch meant NASA could resume consistent crewed launches from domestic pads and significantly reduce reliance on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft and its $85 million-per-seat rides to the station. And the NASA–SpaceX partnership did it again for Crew-1, the first operational Crew Dragon mission that launched four astronauts just last month.

Behnken and Hurley’s mission paved a new road from pad 39A to the ISS – one that several crews will use in the coming years.

-- Emre Kelly

Inmate Crosley Green, the day before his case was heard in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2020. A lower court granted Green a new trial two years ago yet he remains in prison. Green is serving a life sentence for the 1989 murder of Chip Flynn. He has always maintained his innocence.

Crosley Green's quest for freedom goes back to federal court

It feels like a lifetime ago. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive shutdowns in Florida, Crosley Green's case was again heard in Federal Court. Three judges with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals convened in Jacksonville as his lawyers argued for his freedom.

Green, convicted of murder in 1990 and serving a life sentence, was granted a new trial by the Middle District Court of Florida in July of 2018 because prosecutors withheld key information from his attorneys at trial. But former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi appealed the decision. Her successor, Ashley Moody, continues fighting to keep Green behind bars.

Murder on the Space Coast: Left to Die - Murder On The Space Coast - Omny.fm

Green's case has long been the subject of controversy and attempts to free him due to numerous problems including: five of six state witnesses recanting their testimony; a dog track considered to be junk science; no physical evidence tying Green to the crime; a prejudicial photo lineup and the fact that responding officers believed the victim's girlfriend was responsible for the fatal shooting. 

Green was originally sentenced to die in Florida's electric chair before being re-sentenced to life in prison.

Green's story was featured on season five of the podcast "Murder on the Space Coast."

-- John A. Torres

Specialty grocers out of luck

Early 2020 wasn’t kind to specialty grocers in Brevard.

The first blow came in late 2019 when, after more than four decades in Brevard County, Leigh and Jay Pettigrew sold both their Petty's Meat Market locations.

The 44-year-old Babcock Street location, which was founded by their parents, remains open under new ownership, while the Wickham Road store, a part of Suntree for 24 years, closed in January. A bank is under construction on the site.

Next, fans of Lucky’s Market in West Melbourne, had their hopes lifted and then smashed. The Colorado-based organic grocery chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced Jan. 21 that it would close 32 of its 39 stores across the country. West Melbourne's was one of seven to remain open.

Two weeks later, news came that the West Melbourne store would close after all.

Meanwhile, North Carolina-based Earth Fare, another organic grocery chain, announced Feb. 3 that it, too, was filing for bankruptcy protection. 

The company closed 50 stores across the Southeast and Midwest, including one that had opened in 2019 in Viera. 

Both the Lucky’s Market and Earth Fare locations were purchased by Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Winn-Dixie.  A new Winn-Dixie opened in West Melbourne in December. Like Lucky’s Market, it will allow shoppers to sip draft beer while shopping. The Viera location is expected to open in early 2021.

-- Suzy Leonard

Splashdown of Gemini 8

Splashdown

After working with the ISS crew for 62 days, Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley transferred to Crew Dragon for what was perhaps the most treacherous portion of their mission: the fiery process of atmospheric entry.

Nineteen hours after their departure, the capsule nicknamed Endeavour performed a critical deorbit burn and placed the veteran astronauts on an irreversible trajectory toward the Gulf of Mexico where several ships were waiting. 

While Crew Dragon’s heat shield kept the hazards at bay, plasmas around the capsule warmed up the interior to a toasty 85 degrees and caused an expected communications blackout. After several callouts from SpaceX mission control with no response, a signal finally made it through.

“Endeavour has you loud and clear,” Hurley said just minutes before their splashdown.

Then for the first time since 1975, American astronauts landed in the water.

The splashdown and recovery marked a successful end to the wildly popular Demo-2 mission. Looking forward, that same capsule will be used to fly future crews – including Behnken’s wife, astronaut Megan McArthur.

-- Emre Kelly

Rescued mariner Stuart Bee climbs a ladder Sunday morning after his boat sank roughly 86 miles east of Port Canaveral.

Missing Boater rescued 86 miles offshore

In November, national media were captivated by an odds-defying sea rescue off Port Canaveral: A missing mariner clinging to the bow of his capsized boat was rescued – a whopping 86 miles offshore.

Stuart Bee had departed Cape Marina at Port Canaveral two days earlier in his live-aboard 32-foot Sea Ray. He was reported missing, sparking a wide-ranging U.S. Coast Guard search via air and sea.

Fortunately for Bee, he was spotted by crew members aboard the 225-foot container ship Angeles, which was en route from the Port of Puerto Barrios in Guatemala to the Port of Wilmington in Delaware.

Capt. Mark Vlaun, who commands Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, described the unlikely rescue as “one-in-a-million,” “a miracle” and “extraordinary.”

Bee decided to remain aboard Angeles, and he debarked the cargo ship in Delaware and recounted his adventure before a gaggle of media.

-- Rick Neale

Screen capture of dashcam footage showing the deputy-involved shooting of Cocoa teens Sincere Pierce and Angelo Crooms.

Two Cocoa teens shot and killed by Sheriff's deputies

On Nov. 13 Brevard County Sheriff’s Deputy Jafet Santiago-Miranda shot and killed two Cocoa teenagers in their car.

A.J. Crooms, the 16-year-old driver, and his passenger, Sincere Pierce, 18,  were fatally wounded as  Santiago-Miranda fired on the car the teens were in as it pivoted in the deputy's direction. 

Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey said deputies were responding to a possible stolen car, even as family members said that the car was not stolen. The sheriff also pointed to released dashcam video that he said showed the deputy's life was in danger as Crooms drove in his direction.

Family members - including Pierce's aunt who saw the actual shooting - said Crooms was not driving toward the deputy but attempting to get around him and was moving at relatively slow speed. 

Later, as family members and friends gathered to pay final respects to Pierce, another gunshot, this one deemed as 'accidental' by the sheriff's office, left Pierce's mother and a teen wounded. Now the families wait for word on the state investigation into the teens' shootings. 

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate the case. It will turn its findings over to the state attorney's office where prosecutors will decide if the deputy's use of force was warranted. 

-- J.D. Gallop

Despite the Brevard Republican Executive Committee Human Trump Chain being postponed from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27 due to Sunday rain, many supporters turned out anyway, and gathered in groups at several locations along N. Wickham Road from just north of Pineda Causeway to the intersection at Murrell Road in Viera.

Republicans sweep local elections (again)

Republican incumbents representing Brevard County won new terms in the 2020 elections, including U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, Sheriff Wayne Ivey, five members of the Florida Legislature and three county commissioners. In each of these elections, the margin of victory was more than 10 percentage points.

But Democrat Jennifer Jenkins did win a seat on the Brevard School Board, defeating Republican incumbent Tina Descovich, in a nonpartisan election in which the candidates' political party affiliation is not listed on the ballot. Democrats also won some contested nonpartisan municipal races, notably winning two seats on the Palm Bay City Council, although losing the mayor's race there.

Voter turnout in the general election was heavy, with 86.2% of registered Republicans and 81.1% of registered Democrats casting a ballot.

Most voters took advantage of early voting. Only 20.0% of the Brevard voters who cast ballots did so in person at a polling place on Nov. 3. That compares with 40.6% who voted by mail, and 39.4% who voted in person at one of 10 early-voting sites open for 13 days prior to Election Day.

-- Dave Berman

About 175-200 people participated in a peaceful Black Lives Matter march and rally for justice, mainly regarding the George Floyd case. They marched around the parking lot of the West Melbourne Walmart and along parts of Palm Bay Road on Monday afternoon, June 1.

National protests find their way to Brevard

After George Floyd lost his life at the hands of police May 25 in Minneapolis, the Space Coast hosted numerous protest marches, rallies and vigils that were attended by thousands.

The largest was the "March for Justice" that led demonstrators up Fiske Boulevard from Barton Boulevard in Rockledge to State Road 520 in Cocoa. Participants waved colorful signs and joined voices for chants like "No justice, no peace!" "Hands up, don't shoot!" and "I can't breathe!"

Cocoa police estimated the march drew between 2,500 and 3,000 people.  

Prayer vigils in Floyd’s memory took place at Front Street Park in downtown Melbourne and the Moore Justice Center in Viera, among other locales. 

Roughly 300 people attended a demonstration against police brutality at Canova Beach Park near Indian Harbour Beach. Other rallies occurred at Palm Bay City Hall and in Titusville and West Melbourne.

Palm Bay Police Chief Nelson Moya participated in a rainy 2-mile march along Palm Bay Road – and he used a microphone to tell the crowd that his department prohibits officers from putting their knees on suspects’ necks.

-- Rick Neale

A group of protesters gathered Friday afternoon outside the Moore Justice Center at the intersection of Stadium Parkway and Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Viera. They were asking for the release of the jail tapes of Gregory Edwards, a hearing was going on in the courthouse over the release of the tapes.

Gregory Edwards video is finally released after lawsuit

After a months-long public records lawsuit and nearly two years after the death of US Army combat veteran Gregory Lloyd Edwards in Sheriff’s office custody, the public was finally able to see Brevard County Jail surveillance footage that captured Edwards' last conscious moments.

The release of the footage was the culmination of years of reporting by FLORIDA TODAY’s watchdog team, public pressure from the community demanding greater transparency and accountability from law enforcement and the work of lawyers and expert witnesses arguing that the security footage was indeed a public record that Brevardians have a right to see.

The footage revealed that after restraining Edwards, deputies and left him alone in a cell, his hands cuffed behind his back and strapped into a restraint chair, taser barbs lodged in his back, pepper spray on his face and a fine mesh spit hood over his head. It captured in graphic details his final conscious moments as he appeared to writhe in the restraint chair, gasp for air, struggling against his restraints before going limp. The former combat medic who served in Iraq and Kosovo never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead in a hospital the next day.

The state attorney's office cleared the deputies of wrongdoing and a subsequent review by Florida Department of Law Enforcment agreed. 

Now, citing evidence revealed by the video, the Edwards family has filed civil rights lawsuits against the police agencies involved in Edwards detention and the jail’s healthcare vendor at the time. 

-- Alessandro Sassoon

Former Palm Bay Deputy city manager Dave Isnardi being led into the Brevard County Detention Center Friday afternoon.  Photo courtesy WKMG News 6.

Isnardi pleads guilty in corruption case

One Palm Bay political corruption case ended in 2020, around the time another one began.

Both cases involve allegations of illegal efforts to sway votes on the Palm Bay City Council on development issues. 

Former Palm Bay Deputy City Manager Dave Isnardi in October pleaded guilty to one felony count of criminal conspiracy to commit extortion stemming from a Florida Department of Law Enforcement/FBI investigation. In a plea agreement, he was sentenced to five years of probation.

Isnardi was arrested in May 2019 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to possess controlled substances, including oxycodone.

As part of the plea deal, Isnardi agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and to complete 60 days of service at the sheriff's work farm.

The case of a second person charged in that case, Jose Aguiar, is pending. Aguiar was charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. He has pleaded not guilty.

In a separate case, developer Brian West was arrested over an alleged scheme to buy Palm Bay City Council votes to rezone his Plantation Circle property for commercial use.

West faces charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and three counts of unlawful use of a two-way communications device stemming from and FDLE investigation. West has pleaded not guilty.

-- Dave Berman

With the house painted, Tommy Cook, Waldo Williams, Adam Kirk and Leon Bright take a break in the driveway.

Football legends teams up to help vet

As young men, they teamed up in 1972 as members of the Merritt Island Mustangs’ undefeated state championship team.

In September 2020, these men – now in their 60s – and other volunteers reunited to rehab the home of the daughter of their former athletic adviser, Harry Jennings, an English teacher at Merritt Island High.

Waldo Williams, Class of 1973 and now a Houston resident, wanted to make sure Sarah "Bitsy" Jennings, is safe and comfortable living in her parents' old home. Sarah Jennings has a history of health problems, including facing COVID-19 this year.

"The Jenningses took me under their wing; treated me like family," said Williams, who went on to play pro baseball and who retired from FedEx.

“It's just nice to give back and help people, too."

Among the volunteers was former NFL standout "Neon Leon" Bright.

It's about family, said Bright, who played at Florida State and later, in the NFL for the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“In this day and time, people can be standoffish, and with COVID-19, everyone's just trying to take care of themselves,” Bright said. “Look at these guys, everyone coming out here to lend a hand. Man, it's a blessing. It's a blessing."

-- Britt Kennerly

Melbourne Police Chief David Gillespie, top left, talks with Natacha Walker, Irie Harrington, Ayana Verdi, John Verdi, Melbourne Police Commander Marc Claycomb and Myesha Thompson at a pre-Thanksgiving gathering.

Hey Blue

When John and Ayana Verdi started the Hey, Blue! initiative four years ago, they never could have envisioned its relevance in 2020. 

As marches and protests took place across the country in response to the May death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police, Hey, Blue! stuck to its mission of encouraging positive interactions between law enforcement and the community. 

The initiative began with story times in schools, coffee shops and ice cream parlors, with police officers in uniform reading to children. 

In a way, COVID-19 helped broaden the reach of Hey, Blue! In-person story hours went virtual, and officers from Texas, Virginia and India were drawn into the mix. 

John Verdi, a veteran New York police officer and 9/11 first responder, said the idea for Hey, Blue came to him on Sept. 11, 2001.

During the days that followed 9/11, people lined the streets near Ground Zero, waiting to thank police officers and firefighters for what they were doing. Verdi witnessed the impact that gratitude had on his fellow first responders. 

That support kept them going in the long days after the attack.

Through Hello, Blue! he hopes to find a place where police officers and the community can discover their similarities and embrace their differences. 

"In the end, nobody wants to wake up scared, nobody wants to live in fear," he said.

Learn more about Hey, Blue! at facebook.com/itsheyblue or verdiecoschool.org/heyblue.

-- Suzy Leonard